Well I am looking forward to seeing Bergy and MOLSON deliver their year ender, As Bergy with Tears in his eyes tells everyone that he did everything possible to get the Habs into the playoffs. But once again it was Those Players that let the team down. If only guys like: Price, Domi, Petry, Tatar, Byron, Armia, Danault and Gally11 had played up to their expected levels. But no they chose not to give their all each game. Only our FCSS(French Canadian SuperStar) Lil Jonny Drouin and Breaking Down Badly Weber lived up to expectations as did our backstopper Niemi. …….and then Molson taking over and praising Bergy for working 4 days a week all season to ensure this team made it deep into the playoffs.

Seriously, this Act by the bumbling duo has worn very thin each year. They both need to take off those stupid Rose Tinted glasses.

Bergevin needs to step up and correct one of his major mistakes: the trade that brought us #92 Drouin.

If you watched the last 3 weeks or so of the season. You saw how well the Top 2 lines were doing without Drouin weighting down one or the other lines. Instead Julien knew that to get the Habs into the playoffs he had to get Drouin away from the Top 2 lines. So he dropped him onto the 3rd line. He at once did what he always does….anchors the line into submission. He forces the other 2 teammates to play shorthanded. Watch the line out there and you see K2 and Armia carrying the puck or chasing it. But what you don’t see is Drouin anywhere in the picture. He isn’t even in the same zone as the other two. Once the whistle goes he will coast into view. He was brought in to score goals and accumulate points. He was signed to a 6 yr – $5.5M/season contract. In English that translates into a terrible waste of money and a poor value for the #1 prospect we gave up to get the French speaking Drouin.
Lets see Drouin scored 1 goal in his last 27 games. Part of that slump according to Bergy and Julien is due to his adjusting to playing in Montreal. This is a most difficult process. Of course I have never heard of this excuse being used on any other player coming to MTL in the 50+ yrs that I have been a fan of this team.
Bergy and his sick fixation of everything French is always better when it comes to the Habs. Well this fixation on Drouin was a huge mistake. But in Bergy’s eyes he is the 2nd coming of Gretzky. Of course I don’t mean Wayne of course.

Yes, the off season has a lot of work ahead of it. But some questions needs to be answered prior to the draft in late June.

1) What is wrong with Weber? you’d have to be blind to see he is a shadow of himself out there. The team of course said nothing about his health status. But he was either playing with an injured: foot, ankle or knee.
He looked somewhat clumsy flatfotted out there. Inside our end he spent a lot of time standing at the side of Price while Mete chased all over the ice. When he attempted to rub players out along the boards they easily pushed by him because he had no strength in his base.

2) Drouin: He has to be gone anywhere because we can’t afford a 4th liner making $5.5M/yr who can’t be bothered to play most nights.

3) Left Defense: we need big bodied defenders who can carry the puck and shoot the puck effectively and be a strength inside our blueline. I’m sorry but Victor Mete is not that answer. He’s a nice young player. But he is not a # 1 or 2 defender. He is too, too small. It was painfully obvious watching him play inside our blueline, He can’t box players out from the front of the net and he’s easily pushed off along the boards. Sorry but he’s a 3rd pairing defender or playing in Europe.

Also, lots of Habs fans think its guaranteed that Romanov will be skating for us next year. That’s a big if. He has 2 seasons left on his contract in the KHL. If he comes out in the 21-22 season we could be in the midst of a strike/walkout. I don’t think he wants to come over from the K to become unemployed over in North America. There is just as much a chance he resigned over their. We need some top defensive talent that can lineup for us next season.

So we are entering the 8th draft for Bergy in June. He totally whiffed on the 1st 5 drafts because he was trying to get players that Michelle Therrien wanted: defensive types, 4th liner types that have a nudge over zero scoring ability and about the same level in offensive hockey abilities.
However, the last 2 drafts was where we began to add proper hockey talent to the organization. We need that to continue.

However, you can not expose these young players coming up and being on the team with Drouin. They won’t understand why their ice time is reduced, benched, Healthy scratched or demoted. for their less than satisfactory play but then seeing Drouin continue to underperform and not being held accountable for it. It gives them a confusing understanding of their worth and how there is a two tiered justice system on the team that is endorsed by the Head Coach and GM. Bergevin needs to own up to this mistake and rid the team of it. Trade Drouin and ensure that Team rules are meant for everyone and that there isn’t a 2 level system in place. There should be rules in place that Coaches not doing their job properly will be disciplined an iif required relieved of their duties.

Its an absolute disgrace what Bergy and Julien have done to protect Drouin from accountability for his lack of play. Even worse was Julien publicly running down Kotekamei for being tired and hurting the effectiveness of the 3rd line. But an 18yr old rookie from Finland is taking the heat for not being able to carry that anchor#92. Meanwhile all season with a whirlwind of wingers on his side he was able to rack up over 30 pts and have a positive +/ – rating. Drouin had a negative rating in that category. Bergy even so far s to bring in his QHL junior Coach Dominic Ducharme to bring the most out of Drouin. I don’t know how you measure success on something like that. Drouin improved his year over year points total by a whopping…..6 points. Yup 6 whole points!!! I somehow think being on a 6yr – $5,5M/yr you had every right to expect a lot more than 6 points from a guy that played in 81 games for the most part on the 2nd or 1st lines and 1st line of the power play unit. But when the Habs needed him most in their push for the playoffs Drouin was nowhere to be seen. With a huge 1 goal in his last 27 games. I mean sulking takes a lot out of you and doesn’t leave a lot of time for scoring. and it certainly didn’t help the team any at all.

Bergy should be fired…….7 yrs….only 3 playoff rounds won, missed 3 of the last 4 seasons in the playoffs. He is now on Year # 8 of his 5 Year Plan of building thru the Draft……..laughable!! But that type pf record would have seen him fired in 30 other organizations. But we have a totally inept owner who is happy just being friends with Bergy and sitting back sucking on a couple of warm Molsons.

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Comment on GAME #82 – A MAGICAL SEASON FINALE – Canadiens-6 Toronto-5 (Shootout) April 6, 2019 by david deVries http://intentionaloffside.com/?p=47599&cpage=1#comment-124488
Sun, 07 Apr 2019 18:20:57 +0000http://intentionaloffside.com/?p=47599#comment-124488What a way to end the season!
Poehling was unbelievable in his first NHL game.
I enjoyed watching a wild scoring game, it was entertaining.
A number of players had career high years. Even if they missed the playoffs
the team is moving in the right direction, except Drouin.

I thought the San Jose game was the turning point in missing the playoffs.
Julien should have started Price to continue the momentum in beating LA
the game earlier. That one error I believe cost them the playoffs. Had they
beat San Jose they might have also taken the Ducks later.
Well, that is how the puck bounces.
Thanks Ron for your insights shared on the games this season. I have enjoyed
your web site. I was able to watch every game and appreciated your analysis.

What a treat to hear Bob Cole announce the game. Regret, the legendary
announcer will not be back next year. Nice tribute to him.
I have been a Canadiens fan since the early 60’s and became a Hab’s fan
listening to Danny Gallivan on the radio. Oh, how things have changed
since the days of the 6 team league.

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Comment on GAME #82 – A MAGICAL SEASON FINALE – Canadiens-6 Toronto-5 (Shootout) April 6, 2019 by BAY_bYE http://intentionaloffside.com/?p=47599&cpage=1#comment-124466
Sun, 07 Apr 2019 07:13:48 +0000http://intentionaloffside.com/?p=47599#comment-124466well Tartar and Dome were the biggest surprises and glad to sse them perform….Price was Price..the best goalie in the NHL and World.. Weber is running out of time fast and Drouin needs to be traded as he will never perform to be the greatest French Canadian Player. his defense is one of the worse in the NHL and he only plays when he feels like it..not a team player..time to trade
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Comment on GAME #78 – DEATH KNELL – Columbus-6 Canadiens-2 (March 28, 2019) by Ned Stark, Warden of the North http://intentionaloffside.com/?p=47524&cpage=1#comment-124191
Sat, 30 Mar 2019 01:56:52 +0000http://intentionaloffside.com/?p=47524#comment-124191I’m not sure about it….I think I’ve read anywhere from 6-8 articles on last night’s game. This was the only article that actually mentioned the FCSS’s name and lack of impact….again. The bias that is shown to this undeserving punk speaks volumes to why this team is currently on the outside looking in. You’ve got this spoiled punk making $5.5m and another 4 yrs on his deal doing less than zero and currently killing the “4th” line and our fine young rookie Centre’s confidence in K2. You have so many guys that are getting paid so much less then this puke and for the most part they are working their asses off every game. But Drouin you can depend on if: it’s an important game, especially if it’s on the road, against bigger teams, against top teams and for sure if we are playing Tampa home or away he will be in his GHOST Mode as in totally invisible. I have never seen any other player who’s been traded not be amped up to play against the team that traded him. Every time we’ve played Tampa he has validated for Stevie Y. and Jon Cooper why they wanted to move on from Drouin. It also confirms Stevie Y. Sucked Bergy in like a whale on this deal. He knew Bergy wanted a young French Canadian player at all costs. I also believe that is why former VP/Asst GM Rick Dudley is not with us anymore and is now in the FO with the Canes. He was sent to scout Drouin when TB sent him down to the AHL as a disciplinary action for not obeying Coach Cooper. Drouin promptly in a snit because he knew better than both Ysermen & Cooper and promptly quit on the team and went home. That showed exactly the type of character this guy is made of. Dudley is an old school type of executive. He played the game well for a long playing career. He never played that way in his career and he would never condone that type of player when he was a coach or GM. But thick in the skull Bergy only saw one thing in Drouin –> FCSS –> French Canadian Super Star and then of course Bergy added that little caveat of course that he was. #1 centre for this team. So there Bergy was having a good time with his pals at RDS and the French Press that he had finally got his #1 Centre and huge Bonus the guy is the next FCSS yah you heard it in Francais from Bergy that this kid was the next great French Canadian SuperStar. But unfortunately for Bergy after signing the FCSS to an over termed & over paid 6 yr deal about a half hour after the trade he forgot to proclaim loudly that Drouin/FCSS would need 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or the full term of his contract to get fully acclimated to playing in Quebec and Montreal before he might/maybe show some worth to the Habs. Of course I call Bull Sh#t !! Have you heard that BS used by let’s see: our #1 draft pic K2, or any other guy not from Quebec use that bogus excuse that all the hoopla of playing in MTL would slow their progress. I mean just about all these guys come here and only speak English or their home language from Europe etc. But Drouin has played in MTL when he was with TB, he played here growing up as a kid to an adult when he played junior in the Q. Yes I know he played in Halifax but just about every other team is in Quebec. Drouin has got away with murder ever since he got here. He refuses to play quality Defense. I mean some people here used to rag Galcheniuk for his Defense. But I’m sorry Gally27 was a Selke award winner like Gainey compared to that shit Defense Drouin provides. But what’s worse is that he has never been held accountable for is actions or in his case lack of actions. Any other player who pulled this crap is: benched, Healthy Scratched, demoted to the minors or moved out of the organization. You have to think that some of the “character” guys on this team like: Price, Weber, Gally11, Domi etc etc would not have taken the FCSS aside after practice or in the dressing room and tuned him up about his lack of game. If it wasn’t them why hasn’t Ducharme who was signed last off season with the specific purpose of lighting a fire under Drouin’s ass to get him to perform like he did in junior to earn the #3 draft spot. Of course you have to look at Coach Julien with not a lot of respect when he can be so hard on a guy like Hudon and the other guys on the 4th line prior to the trade deadline. These guys if they didn’t perform were in the pressbox. But instead he played Drouin for most of the year on the 2nd line and on the 1st Power Play unit. You wonder why that PP is last in the league?? Well #92 has a lot to do with it hiding out at the point and doing his little circle moves out there and killing prescious time away. He let Drouin go out there and put up zeros for the most part as in zero goals, assists, shots, hits and you name it including zero attempts to actually contribute to playing hockey for this team.

You wonder why some people say this team quit last night. #92 is all you have to look at it for the WHY?????!!

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Comment on GAME #78 – DEATH KNELL – Columbus-6 Canadiens-2 (March 28, 2019) by david deVries http://intentionaloffside.com/?p=47524&cpage=1#comment-124189
Fri, 29 Mar 2019 23:43:26 +0000http://intentionaloffside.com/?p=47524#comment-124189One nail is in the play-off coffin will another one come on Saturday night?
The game started out great against Columbus and then everything fell apart.
Way too many on contested give-aways. Passes that ended up on the stick
of a defender. Poor outlet passes from the second period on killed any
chance of staying alive in the game. Too many players looked like Drouin in
this game. He had plenty of company and the result was terrible. For this
being a season defining game became an embarrassment for Canadiens.
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Comment on GAME #78 – DEATH KNELL – Columbus-6 Canadiens-2 (March 28, 2019) by Bay_Bye http://intentionaloffside.com/?p=47524&cpage=1#comment-124187
Fri, 29 Mar 2019 23:01:57 +0000http://intentionaloffside.com/?p=47524#comment-124187time to trade Drouin..he will never be the next Great French Canadian as Bergevin claimed when we gave up a future Norris Dman for. defensively he totally sucks ans only shows up when he wants to and that is not too often…he will never mature into a star..
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Comment on GAME #76 – IMPORTANT POINT GAINED – Carolina-2 Canadiens-1 (Overtime) March 24, 2019 by Bay_Bye http://intentionaloffside.com/?p=47499&cpage=1#comment-123972
Tue, 26 Mar 2019 01:12:24 +0000http://intentionaloffside.com/?p=47499#comment-123972well Montreal has to learn..it is time to trade Drouin as he does not come to play often enough…and the tying goal went in off Benn….why is he still here….TB is looking some good in the Drouin-Sergechev trade…
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Comment on GAME #76 – IMPORTANT POINT GAINED – Carolina-2 Canadiens-1 (Overtime) March 24, 2019 by Ned Stark, Warden of the North http://intentionaloffside.com/?p=47499&cpage=1#comment-123967
Mon, 25 Mar 2019 21:54:38 +0000http://intentionaloffside.com/?p=47499#comment-123967Much of the report here by Reusch I have no problem with but a few exceptions.

I knew the Team would have a difficult 1st & 3rd periods. After watching Weber stagger around vs Buffalo you just knew he was getting a ton of minutes vs the Canes. They knew something is wrong with Weber even though the Habs have their heads in the sand about it as usual. Weber was beaten cleanly to the outside on several occasions. In one instance he must have thought it was 3rd and 3 because he tackled the Canes forward drawing a penalty. When you watch him in our end he assumes a spot just outside the crease to the right of Price. Mete is forever chasing after the puck carriers all over our end. When Weber tries to squeeze someone on the boards he stops using his feet to drive the player into the boards. Instead he just uses his upper body and becomes over balanced by extending so far out as the other player keeps moving. He no longer looks like he’s on a higher plain than our other players. There is obviously something seriously wrong with one of his feet or ankle. I’m sure as soon as we are done playing I’m sure the Habs will announce that he’s been playing through injured ??’swhatevers.
Bergy not getting a true #1 defender for the left side is seriously impacting our overall defensive play. I’m sure if we had Sergatchev out there things would have been better.

Drouin: so let’s see he sits for a great deal of the 3rd period because he had made his line less than terrible ineffective. So why was he on the ice in OT? You know when the winning goal was scored. I mean did Julien get confused with #62 & #92?? Did he mean to put Lekhonen on instead? I mean Driuin is nowhere close to Lekhonen’s tenacity or defensive prowess. But this OT loss is a direct result of ineffective coaching by Julien. He over played Dominion and Byron. Did Tatar even get on in OT? And you know he had two guys with fresh legs in K2 and Armis as well as the other 2 guys from the 4th. Again a “real” great confidence builder for K2 by sitting his ass on the bench. Funny last week when Byron skated with them the line was very effective. But Drouin on any line except maybe the 5th line is a line killer. Another terrible decision and then giveaway in our end resulted in 2 scoring attempts by the Canes but Price saved his ass. He did it vs Buffalo on Saturday nite. Brings the puck up and just over the blue line both K2 and Armis head to the net. But Driuin once he’s confronted turns towards the boards and subsequently gives the puck away. Oh he tried to recover the puck with serious back checking —> he weakly slashed the puck carrier a few times on his shin pads and gave up totally. The Sabres took it down the ice and buried it for their 3rd goal. Why was he not benched right then and scratched for Sunday’s game. Is it because Julien is scared to discipline Driuin or is it he’s an ineffective coach that plays favourites??

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Comment on GAME #75 – DOMI & GALLAGHER LEAD THE WAY – Canadiens-7 Buffalo-4 (March 23, 2019) by Ned Stark, Warden of the North http://intentionaloffside.com/?p=47489&cpage=1#comment-123956
Mon, 25 Mar 2019 00:11:24 +0000http://intentionaloffside.com/?p=47489#comment-123956 Called Drouin. To see him back in the line-up tonite vs a Canes is thoroughly disgusting. I'm not sure if Julien is scared to bench him or not. But he needs to do something. The 3 other lines are playing very well together. You can't insert Drouin onto any of them because he kills their momentum. It's unfair to leave him with K2 and Armia. Those 2 are giving everything they have including dragging that anchor Drouin with them. But this do nothing and let him continue to dress and play is not the answer. Every other Habs player is made accountable for their on/off work but not #92.
This team brought in former QHL Coach Ducharme who once coached Drouin to get him to bring more to his game ie: to score and put up more points. Drouin is on pace to maybe reach 60 pts. He will at least reach his previous high in pts (53) in last season in Tampa. But of course he regressed last year as he was having to get comfortable playing "again" in Quebec -> read BS! Drouin gets all the ice time on 1st or 2nd line and 1st PP unit for much of his time in Montreal. During the recent West Coast trip he was demoted to the 3rd line. He took this as expected by sulking for many of the games since.
So for 2 seasons we've had to tolerate this player who on any other team would have been pulled from the lineup and either scratched or demoted to the AHL until they proved their worth that they were ready to be back in the line-up. The continuation of putting Drouin on a pedestal with no accountability has to end. Extra resources were brought in to be of direct help to him and improving his game. Instead he has rewarded the team with indifference in his play. Nothing has been done to get him to recognize his faults and to change his habits to benefit his game. He did this in Tampa and disrespected both the Tampa Coach Jon Cooper and GM Stevie Y. They looked at their roster fairly and were comfortable that they were a better team without him than with him. Bergy decided he needed something to get the press off his ass and provide them with a young French Canadian player. So he had faults.......well they can be overlooked and so Bergy did just that.
Well now he has to admit rewarding Drouin with that silly contract was a mistake as was trading the team's top prospect for him was another mistake. Bottom line he needs to be moved prior to this year's draft. The team will be much better off without Drouin.]]>So Thursday vs Isles the mighty Jonny Drouin had 2 pts(1G, 1A) so it was time for him to sit back and relax because the pressure was now off him for another week or so. Well vs Buffalo he should have got the 1st Star for doing F#ck All. He did set up and got an assist on the Sabres 3rd goal with his trademark turnover just inside the blueline while his Linemates are driving to the net. And of course once he gave it away he tried to back check the puck carrier with 2 weak slashes on the shin guards. Then he was exhausted and stopped on a dime. Both K2 and Armia did their best to get back – both actually reached our zone before Drouin did. I was once again livid at this POS💩 Called Drouin. To see him back in the line-up tonite vs a Canes is thoroughly disgusting. I’m not sure if Julien is scared to bench him or not. But he needs to do something. The 3 other lines are playing very well together. You can’t insert Drouin onto any of them because he kills their momentum. It’s unfair to leave him with K2 and Armia. Those 2 are giving everything they have including dragging that anchor Drouin with them. But this do nothing and let him continue to dress and play is not the answer. Every other Habs player is made accountable for their on/off work but not #92.

This team brought in former QHL Coach Ducharme who once coached Drouin to get him to bring more to his game ie: to score and put up more points. Drouin is on pace to maybe reach 60 pts. He will at least reach his previous high in pts (53) in last season in Tampa. But of course he regressed last year as he was having to get comfortable playing “again” in Quebec -> read BS! Drouin gets all the ice time on 1st or 2nd line and 1st PP unit for much of his time in Montreal. During the recent West Coast trip he was demoted to the 3rd line. He took this as expected by sulking for many of the games since.

So for 2 seasons we’ve had to tolerate this player who on any other team would have been pulled from the lineup and either scratched or demoted to the AHL until they proved their worth that they were ready to be back in the line-up. The continuation of putting Drouin on a pedestal with no accountability has to end. Extra resources were brought in to be of direct help to him and improving his game. Instead he has rewarded the team with indifference in his play. Nothing has been done to get him to recognize his faults and to change his habits to benefit his game. He did this in Tampa and disrespected both the Tampa Coach Jon Cooper and GM Stevie Y. They looked at their roster fairly and were comfortable that they were a better team without him than with him. Bergy decided he needed something to get the press off his ass and provide them with a young French Canadian player. So he had faults…….well they can be overlooked and so Bergy did just that.
Well now he has to admit rewarding Drouin with that silly contract was a mistake as was trading the team’s top prospect for him was another mistake. Bottom line he needs to be moved prior to this year’s draft. The team will be much better off without Drouin.

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Comment on GAME #72 – PLAYOFF CHANCES FADE – Chicago-2 Canadiens-0 (March 16, 2019) by Bay_Bye http://intentionaloffside.com/?p=47434&cpage=1#comment-123869
Sun, 17 Mar 2019 15:38:12 +0000http://intentionaloffside.com/?p=47434#comment-123869well time to move Drouin this summer..he will never pan out as his defensive weaknesses are too great to overcome and he seems to take more time off then he does engaging…major trade that is a complete flop
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